First day of the two day Raleigh conference in North Carolina took off earnestly in the early hours of Saturday morning. Without wasting time delegates dived right into the discussion tackling the first agenda on an ambitious full day list of issues. The first was discussion on the issue of constant violations of Human rights; absence of good governance and rule of law in the Gambia… the panelist among them Dr. Amadou Janneh; Prominent lawyer and leader of the UDP Alhagie Ousainou Darboe and Ousainou Mbenga, were to discuss specific prescriptions to address these challenges and usher in real changes..Mr. Darboe call the attention of the delegates to the serious issue of continuous human rights violations on Gambian citizens. He called the government strategy of detention and disappearance as an inhumane treatment and degradation of citizens. He said forcing citizens to bow down before the President to give apology for doing nothing was unjust. Darboe thank Diaspora Gambians for their steadfastness and advocacy during Imam Baba Leigh’s ordeals.
Dr. Janneh commented on the unrealistic expectation that religious leaders are subjected to in the Gambia by the Jammeh regime. He said Journalists and other private citizens are also subjected to the same thing. Dr. Janneh revealed that Jammeh is personally involved in every personnel decision in the country, he revealed that Jammeh even on occasions ordered the rebroadcast of programs on GRTS simply because he was enjoying it..
The former information minister stated he personally received on numerous occasions phone calls from Jammeh instructing the GRTS staff to abandon their regular programs and play what he wants on TV. He concluded that the Jammeh regime must be replaced with more responsible and democratic government. He commented that the opposition must pursue strategic options in confronting Jammeh. He warned the Diaspora Gambians they must live beyond criticizing the opposition and take concrete steps to work with the opposition. He call for nonviolence well coordinated efforts to oust the Jammeh regime..
Ousanou Mbemga highlighted that although Dr. Janneh and Imam Baba are technically free, they have ironically moved into the larger prison of Gambian society and nation. Mbemga call for practical solutions to rid Gambia of the dictator, saying that the Jammeh regime does not have monopoly to violence and abuse. He call for change in Gambia by end of 2013 as envisioned by DUGA.
Omar Amadou Jallow (alias OJ) too gave a passionate speech throughout the day. He said there are only two things citizens should focus on “God and country” He call on Gambians to put aside their political differences and restore democracy and rule of law in Gambia. OJ emphasized that every Gambian must focus on bringing change to our Gambia. He suggested among other things that the opposition should start working together upon their return to Gambia to tour the country together under the same platform three years away to the next elections. He indicated that this will build trust among the leaders and reassure Gambian electorates that their leaders are ready to come together to effect change in Gambia.There were to be several other speakers for the rest of the day… Gainako is covering the event and will bring you live rebroadcast of events as they happened. The ceremony was opened by US congressman David Price who earlier.